By Mya Davis​In recent months, the Dakota Access Pipeline has gained national attention, as thousands of protesters--from Native Americans to veterans to celebrities, have gathered in North Dakota in an attempt to block the 1,200-mile project. The DAPL is proposed to transport 450,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil from the lands of North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. This pipeline poses threats to the environment, human health and human rights. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has opposed the pipeline since first learning about plans in 2014, and even with President Donald Trump signing executive orders to revive the pipeline, the battle shows no sign of stopping. There have been cases where police and military officials are pepper spraying protesters, shooting them with rubber bullets, hitting people with batons and much more. Individuals from around the country are gathering in North Dakota to peacefully protest. However, hundreds are being arrested and charged with felonies. The First Amendment gives us the right to peaceably assemble, and the protesters want the same thing--to save the water and the Earth. In one particular case, people were in freezing cold water protesting as the police officials were standing on the river bank spraying tear gas at them. After all of this, what is Trump doing to stop these encounters? Nothing. He avoids questions and when asked to comment, he puts his head down, and looks in the opposite direction.If this pipeline were to leak, it wouldn’t just affect people near the Dakotas, it would affect all of us. The leak would affect the Missouri River and Lake Oahe. The Missouri river stretches all the way from Illinois up into Montana. With that being said, the Missouri River is not one straight line between the two states, it has many streams coming off of it. The Missouri River also connects to the Mississippi River which covers a large amount of the United States. Spills and leaks from the DAPL would impact all citizens, threatening wildlife, water quality, and land integrity. As most of you can infer, DAPL is not a very good idea. Instead of moving in the right direction to conserve the water, our big corporations and government care about making the most money they can. Together as a community we can move towards conserving the water and do what we can do to keep our waters clean.